The line-up for this show consisted of a bunch of local bands I've been meaning to check out but the main reason I went was because my favorite local band The Tards were celebrating the release of their new album Guillotine. I got there around 6:30 and the show didn't start until 8:30 but I was cool with the wait because the bar had A/C.

The first band Vanlade had a thrashy power metal sound. They had a good mix of harsh and clean vocals. At times the reminded me of a sped up Manowar which is never a bad quality if you're a metal band. Also the face melting solos were a nice touch. Overall they put on a pretty killer set and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Next up was Shred Scare and they came out with all cylinders firing. I was supposed to see these guys a few weeks back with Cross Examination but something came up, overall it was worth the wait. The vocalist broke a microphone but bounced back very quickly. They just had a really fun set, hell when you hear a song titled Fuck Hippies you are bound to have a blast. During a cover of "Breaking the Law" Vanlade's vocalist came up and performed with the kc shredders. They played an aggressive style of crossover that leaned a little more to the hardcore end of the spectrum. These guys seem to be playing at a lot of shows in the area so I'm sure I'll be seeing them plenty in the future.

Then Death Valley Wolfriders hit the stage with their southern fueled hard rock/groove metal sound. They seemed to have been influenced by Pantera quite a bit. The dual vocal approach worked well. They also threw in two covers one Johnny Cash cover and the other being one of Black Sabbath's classics, during the Sabbath cover they had one of the friends come up and do vocals. Overall these dudes were drunk as hell and having a good time and that clearly rubbed off on the rest of the audience. Don't you just hate it when bigfoot steals your beer?

After The Tards finally hit the stage and killed it with their set. Most fans of the Kansas City metal scene are aware of the bands sound so I won't go into detail on that, but these guys were spot on their entire set. The bassist headbanged around in the audience while playing and never seemed to miss a note. This was probably the best small show I've ever attended (there were about 30 people and most of them were band members) Each band gave it their all and it was a killer night. I'm sure it would've been even better if I would have been able to stay to see Meat Shank's set.

Saw Seventh void, gorgeous frakenstien, and Danzig a while ago. Seventh void was really good, sounded just like on the album. Set was a little too short, could have played a few more songs. Gorgeous Frankenstein was ok, had alot of energy but the songs were kind of lacking. Danzig was great, although the guitarist sounded a little off at times. Played a very good set of some of the best danzig songs from the first 3 albums mostly, and a few new ones. Overall, 8/10 I would say.

I went to a small club on wednesday and saw Disfigured, HOD, Pathology, Destroyer 666, and Enthroned.

Disfigured was really cool, they looked like they were nervous on stage but they were awesome, their guitarist looked like Carlos Santana playing awesome metal. What was sad is they couldn't get the crowd moving at all, not much to comment on outside of that, I never heard of them before that night, I talked to the guitarist and vocalist after their set and they were pretty cool guys.

HOD came on next, they are another band I hadn't heard of, and another band that really impressed me, again they couldn't get the crowd moving outside of 4 or 5 pits with maybe 2 or 3 people max in them.

Pathology was the dissapointment of the night, I was really looking forward to this band, but I think they had a standin guitarist because he looked like it was his first time on stage, and he followed exactly what the bassist was playing the whole time, needless to say, no pits for this band.

Destroyer 666 was the band of the night, the crowd was dense and the pits got pretty wild at times, this made the show more than worth what I paid, simply incredible performance. My only complaint is their equipment kept having minor problems and they would stop playing halfway through songs but the other guys would keep going, I may have been the only person who noticed though, they would also have long breaks between songs for one of their tech guys to walk through the crowd to hand the vocalist a guitar.

Enthroned was a really good headliner but I think they got the Van Halen opening up for Ted Nugent treatment, where an opening band is so awesome that they overshadow the headliner, no pits, and the crowd really thinned out for these guys, which allowed me to get a better look at the band and also get right next to the stage, one complaint is it seemed like the Lead Guitarist's amp was turned down because I couldn't hear his solos, but I could clearly hear the Bass and Rhythm guitar, probably just my ears ringing at that point though.

Alrightio Summer Slaughter review time! I went to the one at Summit Music hall in Denver, Colorado. Overall it was a really fun show and all the bands were pretty solid. I was able to get myself front and center for the entire show, which ended up resulting in me having some pretty sore legs and sore elbows/stomach from being pushed constantly. But hey- it was 100% worth it! Summit Music Hall is also an amazing venue, and being that it's brand new I'm excited for it to start getting more metal gigs. Bring ear plugs though! I did and it was one of the smartest moves I did that show (Though I'm probably going to from now on at any concert).

Anyways, onto the bands:

Vital Remains- Rather boring to be honest. I'm pretty eh about their music as I think they can drag things on way too long, so their show somewhat resulted in the same way. Their stage presence was also a bore too. They came off as a generic "X death metal band". Yeah, they do have some history behind them, but let's face it; it wasn't Morbid Angel or Autopsy up there, so the "veteran" status of the band compared to the others at the show did little for them. I give them a C- it wasn't bad, but it was far from being entertaining.

Animals as Leaders- The minute Tosin Abasi got up doing sound checks and stuff I had this little shitfaced grin on my face, mostly because he's by far my favorite instrumental electric guitarist. I was very interested to see if he could pull off his albums well live. And he did it very well. There were times where my jaw was on the floor just watching the dude play- the band was definitely there for the musicians to appreciate their sheer talent and me being a musician was extremely impressed by them. The only unfortunate thing about them was that in the middle of the first song the drummers snare head broke so they had to replace it and skip the rest of the song . I give them an A. So amazing to watch live!

Carnifex- It was a weird transition between Animals as Leaders and these guys, as it went from the band with clearly the most talented musicians in them to the band with the least. Now, the opinion of most people here is probably that Carnifex sucks, and that all the others are way better than them. While I didn't exactly like them, they weren't so horrible I couldn't tolerate them. Yeah, they had a bunch of breakdowns and stuff but it wasn't overwhelming with the "br0ness" that some of the deathcore bands could have. Granted, I didn't enjoy their music that much, but it wasn't intolerable. I give them a C- yeah, Vital Remains status for me.

Decrepit Birth- Was pretty meh. I don't like them on record, and this was no different. Besides the vocalist going into the pit in the end and the overwhelming amount of crowd surfers during them they were pretty unmemorable. Like Vital Remains and Carnifex, not bad but not good either. C in my book.

Cephalic Carnage- Being in Colorado, I've seen this band more than any of the other bands there, and not once have I been disappointed. The love between the band and the Denver crowd is mutual so whenever they play everyone goes pretty nuts. However I'm not a fan of their newer stuff. It just felt really bland to me. Though they did play enough from Anomalies and Lucid Interval to keep me entertained for a good while. I give them a solid B. It's always great to see them.

Veil of Maya- To be honest, this was the band I came to see. Ever since I got their album [id] I've been hooked on them. They're one of the greatest up and coming metal acts, and can do a lot with a little. Sure, there's the exceptional Animals as Leaders that use 8 strings well, and some bands do need a trillion additions of outside influences to make their sound; but not all. It seems like people love to "overdo" things like instruments and such and focus less on what they can do with a little. Not Veil of Maya. They use a six string guitarist, a bassist, a vocalist, and drums. No 8 strings or trillion of influences. And holy shit- they kick ass. Their live show was flawless and performed with a bunch of energy. For me, it was one of those moments where the music just becomes part of you and you totally forget you're in a venue. I cant really say much more than that, because you just need to see them live to really understand how good they are. But overall they stole the show for me. A+. Oh yeah, and I met their guitarist- I about shit bricks and pretty much made an ass out of myself.

The Red Chord- I found these guys to be pretty good having never really listened to them before. The lead singer was so overtop with his "pissed off" face that it almost felt obvious that he wasn't taking himself seriously in the least bit. Yet, I could tell not many people really got that. I was able to actually talk to that guy for a bit to, and he was a really chill and down to earth. Solid B. Really good stuff!

All Shall Perish- Another band I never really listened to that much of, but they were definitely a great band. I got handed the mic just to scream random crap in it which was pretty cool, and at the end got a pick. These guys get a B for sure!

The Faceless- This was the third time I've seen the band, and it was definitely the best time I have. They played a really good set staying away from their first album for most of the set (in fact, they pretty much all of Planetary Duality). The crowd seemed to enjoy the band the best out of all of them, so it was during this set that the most pushing and fighting took place (on a side note, I saw a lot more fights than usual break out at this show than usual, which is really pathetic). They definitely get an A. It was really fun to watch them!

Decapitated- Alas, (Re)capitated. The last time I saw these guys was when they had their old line up, so I was definitely interested to see if they could live up to that line up. While they were definitely solid, I was somewhat disappointed with them. They played all of Organic, Winds of Creation, and two from Nihility (Mother War and of course Spheres of Madness). It was somewhat of a boring choice of songs as I would've loved to see more from Winds of Creation and The Negation. No matter, their new singer is actually a lot better than Coven in my opinion, but besides that everything about the older lineup was better. Maybe that's just because the crowd was better the first time I saw them. Either way, they were definitely entertaining, and Spheres of Madness made me go a little mental (that being the grand finale). B+.

Baybeats is an annual alternative music festival in Singapore that is held by the Esplanade, for fans of all forms of music to converge and have fun. The entrance to performances is free, to encourage people to watch and explore music from different genres.

Its been nearly 10 years since ChthoniC last performed in Singapore back in 2000 for the touring of the 9th Empyrean album, and in 14 August 2010, there they are, standing in front of us. With the release of their latest album, “Mirror Of Retribution” back in 2009 through their new label Spinefarm Records, ChthoniC have been constantly touring over in US and UK, with massive promotion from their label, making this album one of the highest selling album for ChthoniC, as told by them.

It was a long time since I last saw a concert, and yesterday's thrashy night was the perfect come back to heavy duty: Skeletonwitch + Warbringer + Angelus Apatrida at "The Rock" in Copenhagen. There were few metalheads, and even if people may argue that it was because it was Tuesday, or Denmark was playing against Iceland, I think the problem is that the thrash fanbase is rather scarce (When I saw Artillery it was half empty, which it's a crime).

First played the spanish band Angelus Apatrida, who have released their new album, Clockwork. It was awesome. I wasn't very familiar with the band (only what I heard in their myspace, and certainly is worth listening to), but their live performance was excellent. There were some problems with the microphone in the beginning, but after that everything was just perfect. Although the music sometimes reminds of the most classic bands, Angelus Apatrida's thrash is without any doubt, more original than Warbringer's, Bonded by Blood or Violator - to mention a few bands of the new wave. The singer sometimes sounds like Erik A.K. from Flotsam & Jetsam and when he sings in a harsher way sounds more like Gerre from Tankard (at least that was my impression yesterday). Songs usually had several good original riffs - something is not that easy to find nowadays -, and very melodic moments; the result was me continuously headbanging and a performance that continuously kept my attention. Also, they are extremely intense on stage, and very good musicians - especial mention to the guitar player who is extremely skillful. It was a pity they didn't have much time to play, but otherwise extremely enjoyable and a very nice surprise.

Second came Warbringer, who were the main reason for me to be there. They were really good, but I had the memory of a better Warbringer in studio. Nevertheless, they had a ton of attitude on stage and put a very good show. With a more hardcore influenced thrash (some moments where absolute Anthrax worship) and very catchy riffs, Warbringer brought war and the first moshing sessions - with 7/8 guys in the "pit". Drums where too loud in my opinion, and so was it that the snare was very annoying in the beginning. Guitars on the other hand, were lacking power, which is something that annoys me. Even though, I enjoyed most of their show and had a very good impression. The singer has a very "in your face" attitude, and makes these movements that sometimes look like a pose - sometimes it looks like if it were a choreography, and the guy seems to be very rigid, very... schwartzeneggian. The drummer is also impressive; fast as hell and extremely intense.

Finally Skeletonwitch, an unknown band for me, but performing a very interesting mix of thrash and black metal. It was strange, because vocals normally were completely black metal styled - the guy switched between growls and barking like shreded vocals very fast, which was really impressive -, and so were plenty of the leads. On the other hand, many riffs and solos were absolutely thrash metal. This made it a new and nice experience, although it didn't keep my attention as much as the other bands did - I like black metal, but sometimes it makes me disconnect. So, skeletonwitch's repertoire had songs that were more black metal oriented, others that were thrashers and some other that were a mix of both, but overall, their show was intense as well. Special mention goes to the singer, who was very active and acted like a real maniac and was very expressive with his threatening gestures - definitely the correct attitude for this kind of music.

So if you have the chance to watch these three in action, I highly recommend you to go to their show, even if you are not familiar with the bands. Expended money 16€ (more or less) and high satisfaction is guaranteed if you like thrash metal. Few flaws, but hey, it doesn't have
to be perfect to have a great time. 9/10

_________________Everyone's always in favour of saving Hitler's brain, but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, uuuuuuh... suddenly you've gone too far!

Whitehorse, Ignivomous, Clagg, The Day Everything Became Nothing, Gospel of the Horns, Cauldron Black Ram and Coffins

After hearing about Coffins' performance at Maryland Deathfest, I was pretty psyched about this show, especially with the general quality of the supporting acts. Sadly expecting an 8PM or so start as per usual at the Hi-Fi bar I entirely missed Whitehorse who I've never heard, and more tragically only caught two songs by the mighty Ignivomous. That said those two songs were both kick ass (Any band which covers World Eater that well is good in my book). Very upset I caught so little of their set. Volume was the only issue soundwise, and in fact it was quiet all night.

Clagg (8/10)
The first band I actually got a good look at was Clagg, a band I've heard good things about but never actually given a listen to. Some really cool Electric Wizard meets Om meets Orange Goblin meets Death/Doom going on there. A lot of catchy riffs, good heavy dirges, interesting mixing with extremely quiet vocals, personally I thought it worked well, but I could see others being disappointed by that. The only real issue was the length of a few drawn out mellow sections which were kind of dull in comparison to the metal side, but still, a very impressive band I'm looking forward to hearing more of.

THe Day Everything Became Nothing was up next, I was up on the rail for the first three songs, but they were absolutely fucking horrid so I went off to the merch stall, picked up a bunch of Clagg albums and dropped them off at my car. I can't give them a score since i skipped most of their set, either way, they play 'grindcore' in a form which basically takes all the fast gring and stick to all the grooving mosh riffs, throw in a few chug-then-silence-then-chug riffs that all the -core kiddies love and you've got a horrendous abortion of a band.

Gospel of the Horns (6/10)
Pretty underwhelming personally, They've got a big following, and I've heard nothing but great things, but the band stuck me as a poor mans Destroyer 666. They weren't bad, and the crowd loved them so fans were certainly pleased. Easily the closest I've seen a band comign to resembelling D666 (It's more melodic and catchy than say Nocturnal Graves and holds band on the out and out brutality, like D666), but it feels like a mere imitation to me. Really "Trialed by Power"? Subtle, plus it sounds exactly like Sons of Perdition.

Cauldron Black Ram (6/10)
I like this band, but I don't think they're amazing, and their show reflected this. They played well, the fat guy in a lether vest was suitably hilarious, but the music is kind of meh. Alright band putting on an alright show.

Coffins (10/10)
These guys freaking ruled, Super heavy, a little too quiet bu the tone made up for it. Excellent music, cool guys and just pretty much perfection in their style. Also, the singer/guitarist handed me a drumstick which didn't make it off the stake when the drummer threw it so that was just icing on the cake. One of the better shows I've been too.

Overall it was a good night, THe band that played 2nd and 3rd should have been 5th and 6th no doubt, but thats the only minor complaint I have.

_________________

Naamath wrote:

No comments, no words need it, no BM, no compromise, only grains in her face.

Whitehorse, Ignivomous, Clagg, The Day Everything Became Nothing, Gospel of the Horns, Cauldron Black Ram and Coffins

After hearing about Coffins' performance at Maryland Deathfest, I was pretty psyched about this show, especially with the general quality of the supporting acts. Sadly expecting an 8PM or so start as per usual at the Hi-Fi bar I entirely missed Whitehorse who I've never heard, and more tragically only caught two songs by the mighty Ignivomous. That said those two songs were both kick ass (Any band which covers World Eater that well is good in my book). Very upset I caught so little of their set. Volume was the only issue soundwise, and in fact it was quiet all night.

Clagg (8/10)The first band I actually got a good look at was Clagg, a band I've heard good things about but never actually given a listen to. Some really cool Electric Wizard meets Om meets Orange Goblin meets Death/Doom going on there. A lot of catchy riffs, good heavy dirges, interesting mixing with extremely quiet vocals, personally I thought it worked well, but I could see others being disappointed by that. The only real issue was the length of a few drawn out mellow sections which were kind of dull in comparison to the metal side, but still, a very impressive band I'm looking forward to hearing more of.

THe Day Everything Became Nothing was up next, I was up on the rail for the first three songs, but they were absolutely fucking horrid so I went off to the merch stall, picked up a bunch of Clagg albums and dropped them off at my car. I can't give them a score since i skipped most of their set, either way, they play 'grindcore' in a form which basically takes all the fast gring and stick to all the grooving mosh riffs, throw in a few chug-then-silence-then-chug riffs that all the -core kiddies love and you've got a horrendous abortion of a band.

Gospel of the Horns (6/10)Pretty underwhelming personally, They've got a big following, and I've heard nothing but great things, but the band stuck me as a poor mans Destroyer 666. They weren't bad, and the crowd loved them so fans were certainly pleased. Easily the closest I've seen a band comign to resembelling D666 (It's more melodic and catchy than say Nocturnal Graves and holds band on the out and out brutality, like D666), but it feels like a mere imitation to me. Really "Trialed by Power"? Subtle, plus it sounds exactly like Sons of Perdition.

Cauldron Black Ram (6/10)I like this band, but I don't think they're amazing, and their show reflected this. They played well, the fat guy in a lether vest was suitably hilarious, but the music is kind of meh. Alright band putting on an alright show.

Coffins (10/10)These guys freaking ruled, Super heavy, a little too quiet bu the tone made up for it. Excellent music, cool guys and just pretty much perfection in their style. Also, the singer/guitarist handed me a drumstick which didn't make it off the stake when the drummer threw it so that was just icing on the cake. One of the better shows I've been too.

Overall it was a good night, THe band that played 2nd and 3rd should have been 5th and 6th no doubt, but thats the only minor complaint I have.

Pretty about GOTH and CBR. Cauldron Black Ram are one of the more interesting bands in metal i think. Nobody else really sounds like them.

Last Friday I went to my first show with my wife. Seeing as how it was the first, I'm probably a little more biased towards thinking it was awesome. I'm sure a few hardcore guys were there going, "Out of the 30 shows I've seen, this was their worst!" but for me, I think I picked a great concert to pop my cherry. I'll just go ahead and do this by band along with some other categories that effected the experience.

ANTHRAX - 8.5/10After waiting an hour, then sitting through an overly long introduction by an incredibly unfunny dude from some VH1 show (he was all shock value, no humor), the air-raid sirens finally kicked in. Being my favorite of the bands that were playing that night, I jumped out of my seat in excitement.

The band opened with "Caught In A Mosh," with twice the energy they had in the album version. This energy would carry on throughout the rest of their set, but so would some crappy sound work. Feedback from the microphone and guitars would screech and buzz at random intervals, and it was fairly noticeable. Scott Ian seemed to notice too, as you would notice him walking off the stage to yell at someone (while still playing) everytime something sounded off. Really though, it was easy to ignore once I got in to the music, and it seemed to get fixed with the last few songs anyway.

They followed up with classic after classic, belting out "Got the Time", "Madhouse", "Antisocial," and a particularly epic run through "Indians". Even the shit crowd (which I'll talk about later) really got in to that one, and though I've seen it a dozen times in Youtube videos, Joey running across the stage with a feather headdress was awesome. The old Anthrax combo was broken with the Busch-era "Only". I was surprised I didn't realize how good it was when I listened to "The Sound of White Noise"... Maybe it was Belladonna's vocals that really did it. Following this was "Metal Thrashing Mad", which I never much cared for, but this was made up for with their finale. I listened to "I Am The Law" until I was bored to death of it years ago, but they really revived my old love for the song here.

And that was it... My main complaint is not about the sound team, but the set's length. I guess I had just expected more, but it's understandable that they'd play less than an album's worth when the next to acts were going to play entire albums and a bit more.

Megadeth - 9/10This ended up being my favorite part of the night. Not just because of my love for the band, but also because my wife and I were able to sneak in to the pit for them. After another "hilarious" intro, the band came on stage one-by-one. I never thought I'd be "star-struck", but there I was about to blow a load at the sight of the band. They immediately jumped in to "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due," and we got caught up in my first (and somewhat tame) mosh pit. They subsequently went on to play the rest of the "Rust in Peace" album... on crack. More speed, more power, longer solos, etc. Definitely motivated me to get that Rust in Peace live album. Unfortunately, we had to leave the pit halfway through this part of the set...

They followed up the amazing album with a song on the opposite end of the spectrum... My wife and I used "Trust" as a good opportunity to rest our feet/necks/throats and talk about stuff until the band regained our attention with "Headcrusher". If I had to attribute one song to the whiplash I felt the next morning, this one was it. If they hadn't given us another break afterwards with "A Tout Le Monde", I might have broken my neck. They finished off with the classic "Peace Sells", which broke off in to an epic reprise of Holy Wars. I felt this was the perfect way to end the set.

Slayer

The moment we had both been waiting for... Will be posted in a few minutes. Work's over, so I'll post the rest from home.

Pretty about GOTH and CBR. Cauldron Black Ram are one of the more interesting bands in metal i think. Nobody else really sounds like them.

Well as I said, I seem to be pretty much alone on the whole "Gospel of the Horns are second rate mediocrity" viewpoint, everyone there seemed to love them, so I figure if you like the band, you would have loved the show. Same goes for CBR, People I know who are bigger fans of the band than I am thought they were amazing. Since I only think that they pretty ok, I thought they did a pretty ok show.

_________________

Naamath wrote:

No comments, no words need it, no BM, no compromise, only grains in her face.

I was in Austin for the Pecan Festival and ended up seeing Powderburn and Blue Flame(two bands that won't be on here without a doubt).

I got to meet both band and see them for free due to doing some cheap promotional work before the show.

Blue Flame kicks off the show and I instantly think, wow this is going to suck, and that was because they have two dedicated back up singers. To my surprise I was very wrong, and I am glad, they played what I can only explain as a cross between Punk and Rockabilly, and they had energy to spare, especially for older people, I bet that every member of that band was 50+, besides one backup singer. Great opener, awesome Guitarist and Drummer made the show so much fun, the frontwoman was energetic, the bassist was there, and they just did what they did, and did it well. 8.5/10

Powderburn comes on next, and besides from being the youngest person in club, this show was pure perfection, the whole band is amazingly talented, they play a mess of genres at times but it mostly felt like a Hard Rock show with Thrash elements. They have a lot going for them, I see them being really big one day. They had the crowd moving, they interacted, they did everything a band like this should do during a concert, and did it amazingly, their guitarist could shred like crazy, one song in particular(Here And After) had what sounded to me like the heaviest breakdown I have ever heard. The whole show was awesome. 9.5/10

Man, I would kill to see Ignivomous. Well, that's not true, but I'd pay a whole lot. Would love to hear them cover World Eater as well. Death Transmutation was the best death metal album of 2009. Gospel of the Horns and Cauldron Black Ram were supposed to come here for Black Mass Ritual III, but the promoters fell through with the funding for flying in two Aussie bands so... Too bad.

Man, I would kill to see Ignivomous. Well, that's not true, but I'd pay a whole lot. Would love to hear them cover World Eater as well. Death Transmutation was the best death metal album of 2009. Gospel of the Horns and Cauldron Black Ram were supposed to come here for Black Mass Ritual III, but the promoters fell through with the funding for flying in two Aussie bands so... Too bad.

We'd love to get to Finland, Its somewhere I've always wanted to visit. When the new album comes out next year we will try and organise it as part of the euro tour. Just find us a goat-hut to stay in!

_________________

Mike_Tyson wrote:

"I think the average person thinks I'm a fucking nut and I deserve whatever happens to me."

Bay Area thrash legend Exodus was here in Singapore on 28th September for their first ever performance in Singapore.

After a slight delay from the 7.30 time that was stated, the gates to TRCC was finally opened and the crowd promptly made a move into the concert hall. Without much hesitance, fans of Exodus from all over Singapore, friends from Malaysia and even one that I got to know who was from Bangladesh who had came all the way to Singapore just to catch Exodus, started filling up the empty space in front of the stage, awaiting excitedly for the performance.

At around 9, the lights finally started dimming and chants of "Exodus!" could be heard throughout the concert hall. However due to some unforeseen circumstances, a slight delay occurred yet again. But within 5 minutes, the lights dimmed once more and the introduction to Exhibit B's opener, The Ballad of Leonard and Charles was played over the PA. As the main riffs came on, the band came onstage, much to the applause and cheers of the crowd. They were all set to have some Good Friendly Violent Fun (pun intended).

Throughout the set, vocalist Rob Dukes entertained the crowd with his sarcastic humour, including mocking and poking fun at those who were sitting down at the seated areas:

Rob: "Where are the old school people tonight?"
Everyone cheers.
Rob: "You people at the back, I can tell you are the old school."
People at the back cheers.
Rob: "Nah. You guys aren't old school. You guys are just old!" [Laughs mockingly]

or comparing the crowd against the Thailand gig:

Rob: "How are you guys feeling tonight!"
Crowd cheers.
Rob: "The crowd at Thailand was better than you guys. Let's try this again. On the count of 3: 1-2-3."
Crowd cheers, slightly louder.
Rob: "Nah, Thailand was still better. On the count of 3."
Crowd cheers again.
Rob: "How about this, on the count of 3, everyone shouts fuck you. 1-2-3."
Crowd: "FUCK YOU!"
Rob: "Now we're in Thailand!"

And not forgetting his comments about the girls in Singapore: "What's up with the girls in Singapore, they all look hot. You people living in Singapore are lucky people." Also memorable were the wall of death during the encore (Bonded By Blood, Toxic Waltz and Good Riddance), Gary Holt and Lee Altus posing and entertaining fans' cameras throughout the set, Rob getting a man in a full business suit into the moshpit (which ended with a small reward from the band: a pick and drumsticks), the crowd having no sense of direction (running into each other when the band demanded a circle pit).

While their set began pretty loud and instruments couldn't be clearly heard, adjustments were made and the sound was fine to say the least as the gig progressed. But this could not dampen the mood of the crowd and everyone present definitely had a hell of a good time.

For those who forgot what happened on this night, here's the setlist:

Once again, kudos to Cynical Sounds for bringing in yet another excellent band and holding another excellent gig! Looking forward to more future memorable gigs from Cynical Sounds soon!

We'd love to get to Finland, Its somewhere I've always wanted to visit. When the new album comes out next year we will try and organise it as part of the euro tour. Just find us a goat-hut to stay in!

That would be great, though I'm not sure there are that many goat huts here. Pig hovels though...

First day of Black Mass Ritual III yesterday:

Vorum: Unfortunately there was a long queue to the venue (all who entered passed through the one ticket-seller/stamper/list checker) so I missed most of them which is a shame since I quite enjoy Grim Death Awaits. Only caught the last minutes of the last song, but their playing sounded good even outside and they seemed to be having fun up there.

Neutron Hammer: Never heard them before, just the name thrown around, watched them from upstairs and quite far so couldn't really get into the mood though they sounded pretty good, swinging from something like mid-era D666 to the early violent Sadus. The drummer was very impressive, very damn tight playing from him and seemed to be a lot into the performance. The guitarist played well too, even though he kept pretty much the same pose all the time and was hiding behind his hair. Bassist seemed to be struggling a bit with performing and vocalist did alright even if he was rather forgettable. All in all a pretty good sound, even though I was mostly paying attention to the great drumming. Not that many solos so having just one guitarist didn't bother that much.

Craven Idol: Another band I knew nothing about so I watched from afar again. I chuckled at the fact that the drummer was good and into it while the bassist seemed to be squeamish about it, just like the previous band. I found it rather odd that even though they had two guitars, most of their lead sections the other guitar disappeared somewhere as well. It's always sounds quite weak, solos without a rhythm guitar backing them.

Witchrist: I knew this Doom Cult-member band beforehand and I imagined they weren't really my thing, but I still went into the front to see them. Even though I don't like the image of hooded and masked hooligans, it brings a certain stage presence that was formidable. I suppose vocalists always have the problem of what to do with their other hand, Witchrist's seemed to be waving gang signs at times which was rather amusing. However, they surprised me by being pretty damn awesome. I remembered most of the material I've heard - the demo compilation - to be rather straightforward in the vein of Blasphemy. Their live set however featured some mid-paced material as well as a lot of doomy sections. These were the best parts. A much better band live than on album, vocalist sounded better, the sound clearer and drummer much better.

Sadistic Intent: Missed most of them which is a shame. The sound was pretty messy though, couldn't hear much at all of the other guitarist.

Maveth: Better and different than I expected. I heard they were some sort of brutal death metal so wondered at their inclusion at the festival, but their sound was more blackened death, akin to the majority of the bands on the bill. Vocalist/guitarist had a formidable presence and the sound was excellent.

Grave Miasma: With not much material, they played most of their songs. Being only familiar with the Exalted Emanation EP, I didn't recognize all of the songs, but they weren't that different, maybe a bit more blackened the earlier material. Good sound again, but with their style the songs went on for a long time and didn't vary that much so it got a bit dull at times. Especially the faster and blastier sections kind of blended together. At least Arisen through the Grave Miasma and Gnosis of the Summon got played and the last song was topped off with some holy blood being thrown on the audience. The band seemed very comfortable and experienced with their live performance, like they'd done it a hundred times. The audience was really into them as well.

Hooded Menace: The band's first live gig and it showed. Rather nervous performance and all of the players (aside from the drummer) seemed very concentrated on the technical aspects of their playing, of being on the right beat and in time with each other. Some problems with the mic in the beginning, but that was quickly fixed. They played well, as one would expect with so much focus on that, but it felt a bit lifeless and flat. The vocalist especially seemed to be going through the motions and nothing else. Unfortunately he didn't even really sound that much like Pyykkö. Low and dry, sure, but doesn't have that deep sound from the diaphragm down right. The sound was alright, but the bass didn't have that strong, groovy oomph to it as on Fulfill the Curse nor did they have a second guitarist which left the sound a bit thin again on the lead parts. I'm sure they'll become better at it when they get more experience, but I'd expect more show from a band that is so centered on one specific theme, a theme that's so great and easy to make into at least a bit of a show on stage. Oh well, maybe that's to come later. Hopefully along with that second guitarist. I was surprised that the people weren't that much into them. Judging by the internet fame, one would've imagined a whole lot more from the audience. There weren't that many people watching and those who were were quite lethargic. Which I suppose goes with the music. It's probably not the best kind for a live situation.

Karnarium: I didn't pay that much attention to them. They were rather dull at times, but there were some songs that sounded really energetic. The bassist was hiding behind the second guitarist (or vice versa) leaving the right side of the stage completely empty for some unknown reason. Looked kinda weird.

Excoriate: Again didn't pay that much attention, but they threw a great performance, very energetic and precise, excellent performance from the drummer. Their energy caught on with the audience who were immensely into them.

Nirvana 2002: I'm rather confused about the sudden superstardom of this band and with their headlining gigs. Sure, Swedish death metal has been on the edge of metal for a while now and they were there in the beginning, but with so little material you'd only expect a handful of people to be into them and these would mostly be the ones scouring the depths of the internet for bands like these. Yet Relapse released that compilation (a disappointment, but more on that at some point in the future) and there's been a lot of talk about them and as I said, the headlining gigs here and at Maryland Death Fest. Again, their performance was energetic, Wallin of Mercenary adding a whole lot, taking the crowd, playing his part of the leads and adding that second guitar to the lead parts helps a lot. Very short though which is understandable considering they've got like six songs. Aside their own songs, they also played Pleasure to Kill and Crawl which is apparently by Säfström as well. His vocals weren't really good and he kept tuning his guitar, but the frantic and very excited audience made up for it. I found it hard to believe that so many people were so frantically into such an obscure band from twenty years ago. But there you have it. Aside from the covers, they played the first six tracks of Recordings 89-91 and Slumber a second time as an encore which makes it by far the shortest set by a headliner that I've ever witnessed.

Today is the last day and, at least judging on paper only, by far the best. Cruciamentum, Slumber of Sullen Eyes-era Demigod and especially Dead Congregation are the best the festival has to offer.

Lie in Ruins: Arrived during the last half of their set so saw only a couple of songs. Seen them twice before and their brand of Sweden-influenced death is usually entertaining and their performance good. Not this time however. They might've been a bit nervous since it seemed like they were in a hurry to get out of there.

Cruciamentum: One of my main draws to the festival, a sort of a sister band to Grave Miasma since they share the drummer and second guitarist. I was kind of wondering what they would play exactly since they have so far only released two demos featuring a total of three songs and unlike Grave Miasma, they don't have a previous incarnation of the band on whose demos to draw upon. Turns out they did have a lot of new material, four songs and about twenty or so minutes. I was in the front row and the sound there was rather porridge: the guitars and vocals blended quite badly into each other, even if the drums were audible and not too overpowering at all. I suppose it is the style of music and vocals as well, both are rather low. This didn't detract from the three songs I already knew though. Even if I couldn't quite make out every nuance, I knew the songs by heart and could get into them. The new material however was a different story. It didn't sound that different from the old stuff, if a bit less heavy with the atmosphere of apocalypse though that might just have been the fact that I couldn't make out everything. They had a powerful stage presence even if the drummer did fuck up a few times, even dropping his stick in the middle of the lull in Rotten Flesh Crucifix. It didn't bother me at all though, makes for more interesting live performance.

Blasphemophagher: Italian Blasphemy worship. Didn't pay that much attention. They had some technical difficulties which pissed off the bassist/vocalist and he left the stage in a huff as soon as they were finished.

Diocletian: Another doom cult-member (the initial founding one I think) from New Zealand. Another band of hooded thugs with more Blasphemy-worship. No masks this time, but they had a two-pronged vocal attack which made for more intense performance in comparison to Witchrist and the bassist/second vocalist's face was so hidden in the shadow ofh is hood that the effect it created was very eerie combined with his size and attire. Their music was more aggressive and faster when compared with Witchrist and the aforementioned use of two vocalists worked really well even if they lacked the doomier and more intense parts of Witchrist. I think I liked Witchrist a bit more even if both bands performed really well and had clearly thought out their stage attire and performance as well.

Demigod: As people may or may not know, they performed their Slumber of Sullen Eyes album. They looked like a bunch of middle-aged business men on vacation or something, but they were very much into it and did perform with a lot of energy though they had some problems with the micing of the bass drum. Fans of the band and album probably got a lot more into it than I, but I'm not terribly fond of it aside from the godly title track which was excellent. They did perform every aspect of the album religiously.

Dead Congregation: The band I most wanted to see. I love their Graves of the Archangels album and imagined it would transfer well into a live setting. And it sure did. Very powerful sound with the drums pounding and guitars coming in as a crushing wall. Powerful stage presence too. They played a lot off of Graves, but a surprising amount of other material as well. Subjugation made everyone go damn crazy and of course Teeth into Red closed the set perfectly. It would've been great if they had opened up with Martyrdoom though. I was too busy being into the music in the front row as to note any minute details.

Necros Christos: Dead Congregation had left me completely exhausted and I was developing a headache so I didn't stick around long for Necros Christos. I've heard the album and while it is good and approaches greatness with some songs, the huge amount of interludes leaves me a bit cold. They sounded good live, but not good enough to keep me around with the lack of sleep, physical exhaustion and burgeoning headache.

Just got back yesterday from a four day road trip out of town to open for Exodus in Auckland and play some other show with local Auckland acts.

Exodus was fairly packed. There were 3 opening bands including us, a thrashy band from Christchurch called Dissolution and some band called Subtract. There were maybe 500-600 people there at this big double bar venue up there. I didnt get a chance to see the other bands, what with playing nd drinking and gear and all, but caught all of Exodus aside from breaks to hit the toilets for urinary and line-snorting purposes. The band had very good, solid sound - the sound dude knows his shit - he done the Paul DIanno tour over here with us which was 3 nationwide dates. That made for thick, loud guitars and drums. I enjoyed it, but didnt care for the singer - he kept spitting everywhere and stuff, luckily i wasn't right at the front for most of it. Either way, Gary Holt was pretty kickass.

_________________Razorwyre:promo track track from 'Another Dimension' LP"The best speed metal album of the year"

Probably not best gig ever but extremely close to it. Tomorrow they'll be playing for longer as they won't be supporting so that will be extremely awesome.

Two local no name support bands, one doing some kind of stoner rock/metal, alright when they got their riff on but mostly rather boring, and a stranger and not as good psych/post-ish rock band.

Those dudes were easily forgotten when a man with a a garden gnome-ish statue and beard (EPIC beard) and a librarian, both hovering around the 5 foot mark came on. Simple set up, a table with a few pedals and a drum machine all going straight into the PA. MASSIVE bass tone from the librarian, while Aidan did everything else thanks to a rather brilliant usage of the loop pedal he had going.

The Gnome really has an uncommon mastery of the guitar, when he wasn't putting down massive riffs (pleased to see them have a setlist with two of their heaviest songs, none of that experimental crap!) he was doing this weird harmonic stuff around the third fret, playing some super high pitched slide up near the bridge pickup, and generally just going hard with tapping and general shredding while the Librarian was just happy to destroy the PA. Absolutely deafening.. the Amplifier in Perth is known for having a fairly loud PA system and Nadja had it clipping it's balls off the entire time.

Ridiculously heavy, close to a stoner doom/drone thing then anything to shoegazey. They don't have a huge stage presence but they were clearly getting into it. All in all a fantastic gig and I can't wait to see them again tomorrow. Also had a chat with Aidan and Leah before the gig.. Nice people, although I think I might've freaked them out by going "THAT WAS FUCKEN AWESOME!!!!!!" after the gig. Oh well.

Setlist:

Alien in my Skin
Bungled and the Botched (love this tune, so glad they played it).

Super psyched on seeing them tomorrow, they'll probably be able to fit in four or so songs, really looking forward to it.

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving- somewhere between Isis and some prog rock/math rock type stuff, some very good moments. Brilliant piano playing and bass let down by overly simplistic guitar stuff and a tendency to drag songs on for too long. The occaisonal big riff making it all worthwhile.

Aidan then came on and did a solo set.. probably would've been better in a seated environment, was still some solid ambient though. Leah came into add some bass and segue into the nadja set...

Onto to drop her bass onto the equipment, causing a huge BOOM and the sound to cut out. Nadja started up again straight away though and all was good.

Set list was a bit weirder, first tune off Jaguar Sun didn't work too well but the second song (couldn't place it) was epic, one of the hugest riffs that either had a shit ton of variations or was just a 32 bar riff type deal. Massive and utterly brilliant. A bit of an overly bassy sound perhaps but I wasn't complaining. The song destroyed, and then they segued into the beast that is FLOWERS OF FLESH. Hugest riffs, most epic times, I was just lost into an awesome world of super distorted haze... Hard to articulate properly. They then ended with something I haven't heard before.. sounded like their version of Long Dark Twenties, and was a surprisingly riffy way to end the set. Like the last gig the whole thing had a fairly big stoner doom feel, I reckon. Fantastic. FoF sounded unbelievable....

All in all two fantastic nights in a row where one of my favourite bands came on stage and delivered brilliantly. Stoked they came to Perth and played so well. See 'em if you have the chance!

I had no idea Wino was coming to the UK. In fact, I only found out he had a new album out the other week - even my brother who's an even bigger fan of his than I am, didn't know. So I guess this gig was suitably low-key, too.

Anyway, so I went along with my brother and his girlfriend. And when I met them at the bar earlier Wino was just sitting there with some annoying Irish guy pestering him (more on them later). So I got his latest album signed and chatted briefly with him, then he nearly crushed my hand shaking it. He's pretty much as intense as you would have guessed he'd be... nice guy, though.

During the support act, I heard Wino screaming at these two pissed Northern Irish guys and then him throwing them out of his dressing room. I still have no idea what happened, but I spoke to one of the Irish guys who said something to the effect of "Yeah, Wino's attacked me before at Roadburn..." sounds like bullshit to me, unless you're really fucking stupid you just wouldn't go to a very small venue to see a guy who'd supposedly attacked you. Besides, Wino seemed very nice to all his other fans.

The new acoustic material is very personal - some of it documenting his divorce and how he can't get custody of his kids (he was saying how it was one of their birthdays that day... and seemed pretty downbeat about the whole thing). Still, he's a pro and played a fucking great gig. Just him and his acoustic (which he plays just as well as the electric... definitely one of the best guitarists around). He played the whole new album, including the Motorhead cover (which is better than the original), some Spirit Caravan song - name escapes me, I was quite drunk by the end of the gig - and The Obsessed's 'Endless Circles' (highlight of the gig for me). It was definitely an emotionally engaging gig, and Wino even shared his bottle of Jack Daniel's with the whole audience (all 30 of us). In return I bought him a bottle of IPA.

So yeah, check out the new album, Adrift, it's probably his best work since The Obsessed days. And don't run for the 12:00 bus in Edinburgh when you're already, er, worse for the wear - I fell and bruised both knees... now I have trouble walking.

_________________'Sometimes you have to be a bigot in order to beat bigger bigots' - G. Marenghi.

Baronness-
Not bad, sound was pretty awful so I couldn't make it out, some sort of vaguely doomy stuff with these really soaring vocals. My interest in them has been piqued to the point that I'll probably download some stuff to see if I should buy some music.

Lamb of God-
I wasn't really fond of Blythe's dumbed down tuff guy stage banter but I can't deny that all the other dudes in the band had excellent stage presence- that elusive grey area between "really getting into it" and "posing". Was good to watch, particularly the lead guitarist. Lamb of God's breakdown-heavy, "variations on three different riffs" was pretty fun and if tickets are cheap I may go and see them if/when they play Perth again, but I can't see myself ever buying/listening to them outside of a live context. Moronic quote of the night from the lead singer:

"Perth is the only city we ever play in Western Australia" <-- yeah well no shit

METALLICA

A far more intense two hours than I imagined. I wasn't front row but second row, which was a freaking hard position to maintain seeing as I couldn't grip the barricade. Not much in the way of moshing, just a never ending crowd slamming it's way to the front. Was hard work to keep my position.. A lot of the smaller people near me couldn't take it for too long. My dehydration didn't help either. Really intense crowd.

Excellent, excellent set though. Some problems with the sound early but that didn't last too long. James's voice sounded really good, he even pulled off the "we're gonna SCREAM OUT" scream in Hit the Lights, was rad. The other thing I was most scared about- the drums (no shit, right) seemed solid enough throughout (naturally, I wasn't thoroughly analysing his performance, I was there to enjoy the show), the machine gun bit in One sucked but otherwise Lars didn't detract from my enjoyment and added to the enthusiasm with his typically lively stage presence.

I think like 90% of the people though I was really there to get my Hetfield boner on and he delivered. Such a commanding stage precense- whereas the lamb of god singer was jumping off shit and running around like a monkey on meth to get us into it James didn't need that. I think the fact that these days he's a pretty huge tank adds to it. He just has authority, y'know? Whenever he came to sing in the microphone in front of me it was always brutal though, just because it meant an EPIC crowd slam was gonna happen. Still, he was fantastic, Kirk and Rob seemed tight (Somewhat like Lars, Kirk makes up for the occaisonal dubious bit of technique with a very good stage presence), Lars didn't suck too much, sound was good, bass was audible and the stage show with the lasers and pyro were absolutely fantastic. Also it was way louder than I expected! Only underwhelming bit was no Creeping death, but I'm sure they'll play it tomorrow.

Set list:

That was just your life
The end of the line (works much better live)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (sounded amazing)
Broken Beat and Scarred
Fade to Black
Fuel
Kirk noodle (notable for him basically just looping the "Sign of the Southern Cross" riff off Mob Rules for a minute or two)
Sad but True
The Unforgiven
The Four Horsemen
All Nightmare Long (worked absolutely brilliantly live.. my favourite song of the night)
One
Master of Puppets
Blackened
Hit the Lights
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman

Well, I went to a Suicidal Tendencies show.
The opener, Good Guys In Black or something that a Christian punk group would name themselves, were laughably bad. The drummer had a 4 piece drum kit, which is something I tend to make fun of. The bassist kept on bumping into his amp while jumping up and down, with his good luck necklace hitting him in the face. I had a feeling he was drunk. The guitarist had a look on his face like he needed to take a crap during the set. The vocalist was funny too. He gave a speech in the middle of the set which pretty much said Don't Talk To Stangers, which means not only do they have a great name for a Christian punk band should one exist, but they also care about our 7 year old children at the show who might be lured by a molester in San Fransisco claiming to have free tofu bars instead of candy, because obviously it's San Fransisco.
The music was equally bad too. Imagine if Greenday formed in Oakland. That means that the musicians are still bad (Remember, it's Greenday), but they grew up in a bad neighborhood. In fact, I'm quite sure the singer could beat the shit out of the numerous hecklers in the audience. The end of the set was a mediocre cover of "Killing In The Name Of". Whatever.

Up next was Hed (P.E.), whom I was told was a "G-Punk" band. Uh oh. I was also told that P.E. stood for Planet Earth. And I saw, at a merchandise stand, a girl's tank top which said "I Love Hed". Therefore, I can conclude that their name means that they give head to Earth. I think. I'm no English major.
The thing that surprised me is that they were A COSTUME BAND. And the costumes were quite creative too. The drummer looked like King Diamond's southern cousin, the guitarist looked like the most depressed Raiders fan I had ever seen. I bet he found out how bad the Raiders suck. The vocalist looked like what would happen if you got a black guy (I think he was black, but he certainly lack cred) a $100 shopping spree at Hot Topic. The bassist didn't really dress up, so who cares. The DJ was my favorite though. He came dressed like a douche.
The music was just plain BORING! You had random scratching from DJ Douche, the bassist following no real melody,and King Diamond's cousin hitting his 6 piece drumkit, making him a better drummer than our last drummer. The guitarist threw in a few cool sounding solos in what was probably a 15 song set. The real problem was the band so amazed by him, telling the crowd to cheer for him, like that retarded kid in your school play (Remember, he is a Raiders fan). Which made me question why they would not have him solo more often if they were so impressed by him. It's absolutly bonkers!
The singer was a fucking nutjob. I'll explain why:
1. He claimed to be representin' the poor. That can't be true, for I saw that you had a music video on On Demand. That means you have had a little success with your band.
2. He said they were influenced by Suicidal Tendencies. No they were not.
3. He said 9/11 was an inside job, whereas I saw a documentry on the History Channel claiming otherwise. I believe the History Channel in this case.
4. He likes nature a lot. In fact, we should tear down San Fransisco in order to grow some more trees. Fantastic idea!
5. He believes the 2012 prophecy. Which would be fine, except scientists now say the calender could be off by 100 years. It won't matter in my opinion, 2012 WILL get you laid.

Suicidal Tendencies were amazing in every sense of the word.
Mike Muir can still talk fast and has amazing energy on stage. Not only that, but he is still somewhat fit, even if he didn't have his long flowing hair.
The drummer did a drum solo that was cool. He keeps great rythm.
The bassist is actually really impressive, throwing out his own solos and whatnot as well. The bass was loud, which I like.
The lead guitarist didn't have much energy, but that might have been because he was too busy shredding.
Even the rythm guitarist was good, which isn't what you can say a lot about their breed.
The set list was fantastic, note worthy songs for me included "Possessed To Skate", "Institutionalized", "Join The Army"...hell, all of them were good.

So yeah, if you have the chance to see Suicidal Tendencies live, go to the show late. Suicidal is worth seeing.

blackened + one = two songs from Justice. I was pretty happy with the setlist personally, although it was a bit black album heavy.

Still only a single track from your fav Tallica isn't a bit rough? I bet tonights set is better.

Tonight's set was a good deal weirder.

Agother solid set, but I was sitting with the great unwashed (as opposed to being front row) so it was a bit annoying. Metallica played Fight Fire with Fire and I went MENTAL.. but no one else in my block of seats seemed to know the song. I was the only one standing up and headbanging. They then played NEM and Sandman and everyone else went nuts, except for me. Then they played Whiplash and again I was the only one going hard. Really irritating!

Definitely a 'fans only' sort of set, a few rarities and odd deep cuts. Orion, Through the Never, No Leaf Clover (which worked far better than I expected). Rob absolutely killed it in Orion; in general I was surprised just how, well, beautiful the dual lead Thin Lizzy-ripping section turned out. Day that Never Comes worked far better live than I thought it would, whereas Cyanide was worse than I thought it'd be. My Apocalypse sounds a million times better live than it does on record, particularly once they get the first two choruses out of the way. Thrash break bit sounded mental. Good performances by all band members.. I definitely had a good time but next time Metallica drop by it's either standing room front and centre or no show for me, I think.

Set (whacky order here):

That was just your life
Cyanide (why??? )
Harvester of Sorrow
Disposable Heroes (this crushed)
One
My Apocalypse (far more intense than you'd expect)
Through the Never
Sad but True
The Day that Never Comes
Orion
Master of Puppets
No Leaf Clover
Fight Fire with Fire (song of the night along with Whiplash)
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman

Knights of the AbyssI tried to avoid all but the final two bands but unfortunately I got there a little bit too early. Knights pretty much play deathcore that is heavily influenced by The Black Dahlia Murder. If you imagine TBDM with plenty more chug-chug breakdowns then you get the picture. Even the vocalist was doing highs and lows, although I much prefer Trevor to this guy. I also find it funny when frontmen of shitty bands get angry that the crowd won't mosh to their music. The very least I can say is that every member (minus the vocalist to some degree) played their instrument well without flaws.

DevourmentI waited months for this show and I finally got to see Devourment. Even though they weren't headlining everyone there was definitely waiting for them to play. The little bar that the show was in was completely packed during their set. The circle pit hit it's peak when they played "Babykiller" and that's when I decided to go join in for about half the song. They had some pretty good stage presence when everyone would be trashing about (but I do wish Mike moved around a bit more instead of doing that squat) and Captain Piss even played with the goofy horse mask for a couple of songs. Although their set list was pretty short (6 songs) I was very pleased that half of them were from Molesting. I got to hear "Choking on Bile" but wasn't expecting to hear "Fucked to Death" (one of the least popular songs on that album). I was really hoping to hear "Devour the Damned" but whatever, it was still a great set. Every member was on top of their game like I said and the crowd loved them. And of course the guitar tone was massive and the bass was very audible. Hopefully I'll get to see them soon again since they recently got signed to Relapse.

Cattle DecapitationAfter Devo many people left leaving not that many to see the headliner, Cattle Decapitation. I was pretty stoked that they played most of The Harvest floor and every song I was hoping they would play off of that album. They all played their instruments well but didn't have much stage presence however. This is due to both Travis spitting everywhere (including on himself) and none of the members rocking out whatsoever. Travis moved around a bit but he's a really small so it was hard for me to take him seriously. Their live sound itself wasn't anything spectacular as well and not too many people seemed to be into their set either. I quite like their music however so it balanced itself out for me.

All in all it wasn't a bad show, definitely worth my $15 if only to see Devourment.

Joined: Sun May 17, 2009 10:57 pmPosts: 881Location: United States of America

Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:31 pm

2 Nights back @ a Danzig show, 11PM, Royal Oak, Michigan.

POSSESSED SLAYED EVERYONE.

It must be said that Possessed played their Metal so heavy, true, and righteous that everyone else that night just seemed... lame by comparison. I never knew that Jeff was in a fucking wheelchair, but did it stop him from owning the fuck out of that microphone and having a kill presence on stage? FUCK NO, IT DIDN'T. Best show put on by a DM Band of that caliber that I've ever seen.

p.s. Just joking about Withered, Toxic Holocaust, and Marduk sounding lame... They were good too, but fucking POSSESSED, MAN - HOLY SHIT!!!

p.s.s. Danzig; however, was a little bit lame. We ended up leaving about halfway through his set.

Yes he does. Did he also have the desktop set-up with a dozen pedals, again?

_________________

gomorro wrote:

Yesterday was the birthday of school pal and I met the chick of my sigh (I've talked about here before, the she-wolf I use to be inlove with)... Maaan she was using a mini-skirt too damn insane... Dude you could saw her entire soul every time she sit...

Yes he does. Did he also have the desktop set-up with a dozen pedals, again?

Desktop on stage? I'll have to review the video! Friday night crowd... the place was packed!

But first... Keep of Kalessin played a heavier set than I was expecting off the albums Kollossus & 3 tracks from the new Reptilian. I was fortunate enough to be recording when Thebon yelled out "SEE-AT-TUL" so that was cool. Kalessin were are cool and they write excellent metal music. Wizziac sold me the t-shirt / cd combo of the new album. I swear that guy reminds me of Skwisgaar Skwigelf except he is the bass player.

Next up... Psycroptic. Dizzying speeds and chugga chugga blenderized together and steam cooked in this hot & sweaty venue. They also played at least one new song that sounded like it had some Nile-ish elements at the beginning, imho. Hail to the Tasmanians for sounding like they were on their A-game. I picked up the new live cd+dvd "Initiation" at the merch. Psycroptic wiped me out I was penniless!

Now for... Ex Deo. These guys play a darker brand of metal than either of Keep or Psycroptic. Very much a heads down head banging show. I was luckily enough to catch a "SEEATUL WASHINGTON I CANT HEAR YOU!" and "SEAATUL ARE YOU READY FOR WAR!!??" video which is always a cool moment. Lead singer has the charisma of a revolutionary gladiator. Not being familiar with any of their music so they have a conceptual art connection with the Roman Empire? The most classic metal solo played all night by any band was played by EX DEO. The other bands weren't really playing too many solos. Brilliant show.
"It is important to learn from the past so we can conquer the future! We are Ex Deo! This is the finaaaaal waaaaaaar!"

NILE.

I have a few Nile cd's and have been wanting to see them for a loooong time. Nile were putting blisters on my fingers last night that's how blistering it was. And the place was really hot by the time they took stage. El Corazon needs some dry ice machines to cool things off a bit:) Chris Lollis was center stage, Karl to the left, Dallas to the right. By this time I was pretty sloshed and ended up taking a bunch of video of George warming up his drums at the sound check. But I wasn't the only one getting video of it!

Ozzy, I can't confirm or deny Karl's rig... the stage is very tiny as you know - it may have been located behind the Marshalls on the left or off stage. The band did spend a meticulous amount of time on sound checking I can say;) providing a great sense of anticipation & impending aural destruction.

I heard somebody yell out "Where's Tollis?" I guess they didn't realize he left the skullet at home ) And then they put down the fucking heaviness, exploding eardrums and head banging craniums everywhere. KAFIR! I knew these guys traded off their vocals but I didn't realize they pass the mic like the Beastie Boys do. And fuck it if I didn't run out of camera memory half way through Kafir which didn't dent my enthusiasm one bit. There is NO GOD BUT GOD! Picked up one of those Nile "Whom the Gods Detest" shirts too.

On a final note... the Seattle metal chicks finally decided to show up to a gig... maybe it was the friday-nightness or the line up. Thanks for the cleavages! LOL!

good stuff matrix. When I was there I was at the very front and center the entire gig, never giving up my spot. When Dallas came up I had no clue who he was because the skullet was gone, and this was earlier this year in January if I remember correctly (I still have the ticket somewhere). Karl though, man, he used 4 different guitars on and off between songs and had a +20'' computer monitor with a small tower and definitely over 10 pedals. Was quite a floor in front of him, and he was off to the audience's left, but even then I could still see it.

Totally agree on the cooling off thing, too. My god does it get musty in there, even when it isn't crowded. The last time I was there I had to borrow off water bottles from the guys in Scar Symmetry, and before that me and Pete from Vader were sharing one because they had no more left, and they weren't even headlining.

I'll never forget Karl Sanders though preparing to do a solo, and then him glancing over at me in front of Toller giving him the metal claw and convincing him to play the solo in front of me. If you look on the first page of this thread there's a review for Nile's performance that night and a link that has this picture: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4-8IfbuU0nk/S ... C_0089.JPG. That's literally me he's looking at, but I can say he had a bigger smile than that. He's also a little stumpier / wider than I expected.

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gomorro wrote:

Yesterday was the birthday of school pal and I met the chick of my sigh (I've talked about here before, the she-wolf I use to be inlove with)... Maaan she was using a mini-skirt too damn insane... Dude you could saw her entire soul every time she sit...